Local stars shine in spring

Wednesday

May 23, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 23, 2007 at 6:22 AM

Joel Stallworth played basketball at Samuel Hancock High and Delta College in Stockton. He didn't take up track until the spring semester of his junior year at Cal State Stanislaus. In a remarkably short time, the 24-year-old senior from Stockton has put together an accomplished collegiate career that will culminate this week at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

Bob Highfill

Joel Stallworth played basketball at Samuel Hancock High and Delta College in Stockton.

He didn't take up track until the spring semester of his junior year at Cal State Stanislaus. In a remarkably short time, the 24-year-old senior from Stockton has put together an accomplished collegiate career that will culminate this week at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

"I'm very excited about it," Stallworth said Tuesday, shortly after arriving in North Carolina. "It's a great opportunity to come in and see what I can do this year."

Stallworth is one of several area athletes at four-year colleges wrapping up successful spring seasons as the 2006-07 academic year draws to a close.

Stallworth will compete in the 400-meter preliminaries on Thursday and the 200 prelims Friday at John C. Smith University. Stallworth enters the competition ranked No. 1 in the nation in Division II in the 400 and No. 3 in the 200.

"I feel good," Stallworth said. "This is the best I've felt. I feel great right now, and I'm so happy about that."

Stallworth recently took first place in the 200 (21.16 seconds) and the 400 (46.13) at the California Collegiate Athletic Association championships at San Francisco State. He also ran a leg on the winning 1,600 relay team (3:13.29) to help the Warriors finish second, their best placement in program history.

Stallworth was named the CCAA's male athlete of the meet for the second consecutive year.

Bolt, a senior right fielder, leads the Falcons with a .354 batting average and has eight home runs and 47 RBI. The Lincoln High graduate has been the lone bright spot on a team that struggled to an 8-44 overall record and an 0-23 mark in the Mountain West Conference.

The Tokay High graduate leads his team in every offensive category in his first season at Cal after transferring from Cal State Fullerton.

Cooper, a 20-year-old sophomore first baseman, has started all 52 games and is hitting a team-best .383. He also leads Cal in home runs (12), RBI (52), total bases (123), slugging percentage (.623), and on-base percentage (.454).

The Bears (28-24, 11-10 Pac-10) conclude the regular season at Washington this weekend.

Enright threw his third career complete-game, his second this season, in a 4-2 victory over Portland on Sunday to conclude the Waves' regular season.

The St. Mary's High graduate and junior All-American is 12-4 this season and sports a 35-7 career record. He currently has a career-low 1.73 ERA with a personal-low 13 walks and .238 opponents batting average in a career-high 125 innings.

Pepperdine (35-20, 14-7 West Coast Conference) is in good shape to earn one of 34 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.